Darkness Rising
|Season = 5 |Antagonist = Dahak |Setting = Eire |In-Universe Date = Year 3 |Production # = V0709 |Filming Dates = 23 June to 2 July 1998 |Original Air-Date = |Written By = Lisa Klink |Story By = |Teleplay By = |Directed By = Chris Long |Order in Series = 89 of 111 |Order in Season = 8 of 22 |Order in Franchise= 200 of 304 |Prev Episode in Series = "Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bridge" |Next Episode in Series = "For Those of You Just Joining Us" |Prev Episode in Franchise = "In Your Dreams" |Next Episode in Franchise = "Crusader" |title cap image = }} Hercules returns to Éire from the Norselands and Morrígan convinces him to stay permanently. Content with settling down with a new family, he later has a prophetic nightmare. Upon waking up, he finds the Druids slaughtered and learns that it was Dahak. Having also seen Nebula in his nightmare, Hercules and Morrígan travel to Sumeria to figure out what is going on. Dahak has indeed entered the world and his current host is a big surprise to Hercules. Summary Hercules returns to Eire to find Morrigan beating up some thugs/unjust thinkers, and helps out a bit... Morrigan talks about how good she feels and how Hercules brought out the humanity in her. She asks him where he will be going next... he supposes he will be going back to Greece but he is not sure if it will be like "home" anymore, so Morrigan says to stay there with her suggesting they can make it their home "together". Hercules is hesitant especially because everyone close to him dies--but she says then it would be her risk to take... she convinces Hercules to stay at least a few days, they do not have to decide anything at the moment. They look at the ruins of the village left by Caesar and Hercules heard that many different tribes were coming together to help rebuild. while they are walking one of the Celts recognizes Morrigan and wants to kill her but Hercules talks him out of it. Mabon and Hercules share a little talk about Morrigan and family. Hercules says he never realized how much he missed family. Morrigan and Bridget and Hercules are out by the shore, suddenly a storm comes and the run to a cave. Hercules tells Morrigan about the goodness and darkness in them both. And he thinks that "this" is nice between them... but soon has dreams/visions about nebula and the druids, and they all go and find the druids all dead. Mabon is the only one still alive but is dying soon, Hercules realizes from the info that Mabon has give, that Dahak is responsible again. Morrigan says now they both have reasons to fight Dahak, Hercules for his friend; Morrigan for the death of the druids. Morrigan says that killing Dahak is justice and it is part of her responsibility now. Morrigan leaves her daughter in the care of a Celt and his wife while she will be gone. On the ship Morrigan feels she has failed the druids because she was not there to protect them, but Hercules tells her Dahak would have killed her too had she been there. Morrigan has a hard time dealing with the pain of losing those that she cared about, and asks Hercules how he stands it, he says he has had a lot of practice. Morrigan says he wrong about one thing--she says that if she was in the temple she would have died, but she was with him and her so her life was saved...so not everyone he cares about dies. Then they reach Sumeria, where Hercules find that Nebula has gone "insane" and has been confined in a storage room for her own safety. She has been seeing and dreaming of Iolaus and it is as though he is there and only she can see him, she does not know whether it is real or her mind so she stopped trusting her own mind. Hercules is talking to her and assures her he is real because she started doubting if anything she saw was real, and she confides everything that happened to him. Hercules realizes that something is going on and it does not mean Nebula went insane in a "normal" way, so he asks Agenor where Iolaus' tomb is. Hercules looks inside the tomb and the body is not there--instead, Iolaus comes out right behind him. Hercules knows it is Dahak in Iolaus' body, but fails to harm him, then goes after Nebula while unsuccessfully trying to convince everyone he is Iolaus. Hercules reaches just in time to get Nebula out, but Iolaus/Dahak arrives and starts throwing missiles at everyone, they all escape alive. After a little fight with Dahak/Iolaus implies he heads for Greece and then disappears. Hercules comes out and he, Morrigan and Nebula pledge to stop Dahak together...or die trying. Disclaimer : Iolaus nearly lost his head during the production of this motion picture. Background Information * Agenor apologizes to Hercules for his "harsh words" in "Descent". * This is the last episode in which Hercules wears his Celtic clothing. * When beginning his story, Dahak says, "It's the story of a time long ago." This references the narrations of the TV-Movies and the series. Memorable Quotations "Hercules, you've gotta help me! Please. C'mon." laughs "I knew you couldn't kill me. You're still holding on to what we were. Well, it's time to grow up. It'll be a whole new day in Greece, buddy!" :–'Iolaus/Dahak' "i'm sorry i thought you were crazy' "i was trying to wish i were' "head to the door" "no chance" "it's payback time" "Have you ever heard of the saying live to fight another day?" "what about you" "don't worry about me" '--Agenor, Nebula, Hercules and Morrigan' "Hercules, boo." :–'Iolaus/Dahak' "I don't know where you came from, Dahak, but you're not staying." cries "I come back all the way from the dead just to see you and this is the thanks I get!" "You may have his body, but you're not Iolaus." "Really? Then who am I? Hmm, I guess this is a question everybody asks themselves sooner or later, don't ya think? Pity I had to die to find my answer. Still, better late than never, huh?" :–'Hercules' and Iolaus/Dahak "You still don't believe it's me, do ya? Okay. Lemme tell ya a little story. It's the story of a time long ago. We open on our hero, Hercules. A broken man, a shell of his former self, he wanders the world aimlessly – grieving over the loss of his best friend, Iolaus. You see, he thought he'd stopped Dahak from entering the world, but… all Dahak needed was a warrior heart. So, when little Iolaus sacrificed himself for the fair maiden Nebula, Dahak had everything he needed! Theee enddddd! Or maybe it's only the beginning." :–'Iolaus/Dahak' Links and References Guest Stars * Michael Hurst as Dahak * Gina Torres as Nebula * Tamara Gorski as Morrígan Other Cast * Nicko Vella as Mabon * Tony Hopkins as Agenor * Alistair Browning as Bronagh * Benedicta Joseph as Brigid * Terry Dale as Elderly Merchant * Geoffrey Clarke as Advisor #1 * Renee Brennan as Druid Of Faith * Tony Bishop as Druid of Tolerance Season Navigation de:Nebulas Visionen Category:Episodes not set in Greece Category:HTLJ Season 5 episodes